


Meredith Quill's Galactic Mix

by winterda



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Gen, Kidnapping, Mother-Son Relationship, Not Beta Read, Parent-Child Relationship, Playlist, RAVAGER MEREDITH, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-15 08:44:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11227416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterda/pseuds/winterda
Summary: When Meredith Quill was twenty years old, she fell in love with a spaceman, but he left her behind.  At twenty-eight, she was finally getting to see what's out there.  Keep in mind, it was not by choice, however.  Now she just wants her and Peter to survive, and she was going to make sure that happened no matter what.





	1. Track One: Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. Marvel and Disney own all. The music is owned by the artists its credited to.  
> AN: This is actually an idea that's been kicking around in my head since watching Vol. 2. I've actually been working on this first chapter since then, but I saw some other people had some similar ideas, so I'm nervous about posting this. Still, I just thought I'd contribute my own version. There are some other good stories out there already based on Ravenger Meredith that I'd encourage you to go read. _Star-Queen_ is definitely one you should go check out if your like AU Meredith Lives fics. This particular AU is based off the idea that Ego actually _did_ love Meredith, albeit in his own sick and twisted way. Thus, he wants Peter _and her_ to be brought to him. This is based totally in the MCU. No influence from the comics will be taken since I don't actually read Marvel comics. Anyway, here we go.

_I like to dream, yes, yes_  
_Right between the sound machine_  
_On a cloud of sound I drift at night_  
_Any place it goes is right_  
_Goes far, flies near_  
_To the stars away from here_

_Well, you don't know what_  
_We can find_  
_Why don't you come with me little girl_  
_On a magic carpet ride_

Meredith hummed absently along with the old radio station that was threatening to go out on them the closer she came to her home. Most nights, it wouldn't be a problem, but the afternoon storms had left the night blanketed in a muggy fog. 97 Rock didn't much care for anything getting in the way of its broadcast and flickered a bit more with each mile she put between them and town. Country living kind of sucked that way sometimes, but she couldn't imagine raising Peter anywhere but out where all her family lived. 

She glanced across the truck's front seat at him as they passed under the light pole that the Millers had put up to mark the entrance to their place. He was turned away from her, watching the shadowy trees pass by in a dark blur. The harsh angle and brief flash of light almost made the dark bruise around his eyes look like a trick of the light if it weren't for the slight swelling.

Peter had gotten into it with Kevin Simpson and his little cronies at school that day. That was really wasn't all that surprising, really. The Simpsons were one of those families who couldn't be bothered with such things as what their son was getting up to unless they were made too, and even then it was usually the other kid's 'fault'. Sheila Simpson had made it clear enough whom she thought was responsible for the scuffle that ended up with Peter's black eye and the few bruises on her son. Never mind it was six on one. If a black eye, a few scrapes, and a week's detention was all Peter suffered from that, she'd take it. However, she hadn't like the look she had seen in Kevin Sr.'s eyes, and considering he made his living off the sound of ambulances, Meredith thought that she might need to talk to her cousin Jimmy down in Springfield about what she could do to protect herself.

She grinned grimly to herself. A frog was probably about to get costly for her, but she couldn't really fault Peter. He was a sweet kid and didn't take kindly to something weaker being hurt just because someone else could. Took too much after his mama that way.

Didn't mean he wasn't being grounded, though, which was why he was currently pouting at the trees.

“It's only until the end of the week, baby,” she said.

“But it's not fair,” Peter replied as he slouched further down into his seat. “Kevin and them were going to kill it if I didn't do something.”

“You could have told your teacher,” Meredith replied patiently. “In fact, that's what I remember telling you to do for something like this.”

Peter made a sound that would most likely be a scoff in a few years time, but right now just more resembled a sort of wordless protest that children make when they thought adults were being unreasonable. His seat belt must have hit him oddly as he tried to sit up straighter because he flailed about a bit with it before slipping it under his arm. Really, the whole struggle was quiet a production, and Meredith couldn't help but wonder if all children where as dramatic as her.

“But, Mom--”

“No 'buts', Peter,” Meredith said as she tried to divide her attention between twisting road and her son. “I understand that you wanted to help, but you could have been seriously hurt. Do you understand that?”

His shoulders dropped a little and that pout that was both annoying and cute returned to his lips. “Yes.”

“So you understand why you're grounded?” she asked.

He slumped back down in his seat but kept a firm hold on his backpack like he was scared she was going to reach in and snatch his Walkman away right that instant. Meredith knew how much he loved the thing – and it was a good thing, too, considering how much it'd cost – but she wasn't looking forward to him having to go a week without it and TV anymore than he was. Normal seven-year-olds got bored easy enough. She'd swear Peter's attention span was even shorter than that. For the next week, she could expect even more epic Lego space battles and Ghostbusters vs Transformers city invasion taking over her living room than usual. Which reminded her that she'd need to wear shoes or sandals for the duration of all this. Those Legos were painfully sharp, especially at three – 

“Mom!” Peter screamed as a light brighter than mid-day filled the cab.

Instinct caused her to close her eyes and flinch, but she didn't realize how badly until she felt the truck give a sharp turn. Meredith was already pumping the break, but every warning her daddy had ever given her when teaching her how to drive about how vehicles don't stop on dimes came ringing back in her ear. Her arm was already slamming across Peter's front when she felt the front of the tuck tip off the side of the road and start sliding down one of the embankments. She was actually kind of surprised her foot didn't go through the floorboard with how hard she was pressing on the break, but the truck kept slipping forward for what seemed like the longest moment in time. When the truck bounced, Meredith sucked in a sharp breath when the headlights lit up the large tree they were skidding towards.

The actual impact was blank spot in her memory. She could remember holding Peter back with all her strength and then a loud, painful bang. The next then she remembered was sound of static from the radio, the smell of smoke fill the cab, and Peter shaking her. 

“Mom! Mom, wake up!”

With a small groan, she sat up and pushed away from the stirring wheel she'd been slumped against. Something warm and taking was had coated the top of it, but Meredith wasn't so concerned with that as she was trying to make the sharp pain in her forehead to stop throbbing. Touching the spot where it seemed to be coming from, she flinched sharply and decided that doing that wasn't a good idea. Instead, she focused on the eager, tiny hands that were still pulling at her other hand.

Opening her eyes, Meredith saw Peter staring up her with wide, worried eyes under the dim overhead cab light. 

Grabbing his hand, she began to look him over as she asked, “Are you okay? Does anywhere hurt?”

He winced a little when she touched his torso near his seat belt but shook his head. “I'm okay.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. 

Shakily, he nodded, and Meredith was left with no choice but to believe him for the time being. Right now, they needed to get out of the truck. The smell of smoke was faint but strong, and she knew that they needed to get out of there quickly. 

Meredith tried not to wince too much when she slid right into the stirring wheel after unstrapping herself. Peter was already bracing himself against the dashboard as he unbuckled himself, as she forced opened her door. It angrily creaked opened enough for her to be able to brace one foot against it so that she could to start to pull herself out. While she slowly worked her way out, Peter reached down and pulled on his backpack to cover his front. As he did so, Meredith noticed a canister with the red strip around its handle that had been sitting under it. She paused in her escape to glance up at the top of the now dark hill before looking back down at the canister. Whoever had run her off the road appeared to be gone, but if they weren't...

“Peter, honey, can you reach that can?” she asked.

He frowned before he gave a small nod and reached for it. His tiny fingers brushed it at first and caused Meredith to suck in a breath.

“Careful, baby,” she said and coughed out a bit of smoke. “Don't spray it.”

He too was beginning to cough when he managed to grab it and tuck it into the space between his chest and backpack.

“That's it. Now, I need you to climb over the stirring wheel over to me. Okay.”

Peter was already moving before she had finished speaking, carefully moving his away across the dashboard and leaning heavily against the seat. He was gabbing handful of the loose cloth from the seat as he moved and was mindful of where he put his feet. It was probably the slowest she had ever see her son move, or it at least felt like it, as the cab seem to suddenly be filling more and more quickly with thick, black smoke. 

Peter was just moving over the stirring wheel and into her arms when Meredith saw the first flicker of a flame shoot out from the impacted front end of the truck. Oh, god. 

Grabbing Peter around the waist, she braced herself against the partially opened door and pulled them out into the muggy, wet night air. His tiny arms were wrapped tightly around her neck as she put one foot down onto the ground from the door, only for it to slip harshly out from under her when she tried to put any weight on it. Meredith hiss as some metal scratched along the exposed part of her leg before she drew it and her muddy foot back up onto the door. She tried twice more before having to give up. The rains from earlier had basically turned the hillside into one giant sheet of mud, which was going to make climbing the side of it nearly impossible. 

The quickly growing engine fire was also making it impossible to stay.

There was a quake in Peter's voice when he asked, “Mom?”

Readjusting her grip on him, Meredith began to try and climb up into the bed. If she could make it to the tailgate, she might could reach one of the smaller nearby trees and try to pull them up. If she could just – 

The blinding light from before engulfed them one again. Meredith could hear Peter scream as she held him tightly against her and buried her face against his head. A strange pulling sensation seemed to grab her all over, and she would swear that the world felt like it flipped upside down. It reminded her a bit of when she was younger and her father would surprise her from behind and flip her so that she was hanging over his shoulder. However, this time she couldn't pinpoint where the grip was coming from; only that it had her and was taking her somewhere.

Then, just as suddenly as it came, it let her go.

Meredith didn't even have time to turn in a way to try and protect Peter before she her knees hit a cold, hard floor. Peter had quieted by that point but was gripping her tighter than before. Lifting her face, Meredith had to squeeze her eyes shut for a moment before the blinding light began to recede. When she opened her eyes a second time, any doubt that she had about no long being on Potter's Ridge Road left her.

“Mom?” Peter asked in confusion and more than a little alarmed as they both rose to their feet.

Meredith was careful to keep him close to her side but tried to give a reassuring smile. 

“It's okay, baby,” she said. “Just stay calm.”

Turning back their surroundings, she drew in a deep breath and tried to remember that herself.

The room she found herself in was smaller and metallic, but unlike the flat, straight walls that were in her father's wood shop, this had more Battlestar Galatica feel than tinkering area. The whole place was barely bigger than Peter's room, but there was nothing in it aside from herself, Peter, and two doors on opposite sides of the room. There weren't any latches or hinges on either one of them, which for some reason made her think of the sliding doors that they had just installed at the local Piggly Wiggly. Just at the edge of her consciousness, Meredith could pick up a pleasant, low hum that seemed to vibrate through the entire atmosphere.

Hope sprung in her chest as she realized where she and Peter were. The ship was a little different than the one she remembered from years ago, but it couldn't be anybody else.

J'son. He'd finally come back for them. After eight years, they were going to be together again, and Peter would get to meet his daddy, and they would finally get to be the family that she always dreamed they would be. 

The hopeful thought hadn't even had a chance to take root when the doors slid opened with a nearly silent hiss. Meredith pushed Peter further behind her as two men who were distinctly not her ex marched towards her. 

The pair were odd to say the least. One was human enough, with a gray and brown bread and unimpressed frown as he regarded them. The other one was big, purple, and scarred all around his face. A nasty smirk pulled at his lips that promised many vile things that Meredith didn't want to think about. Both had a grimy quality about them that wouldn't be out of place among the oil field workers who liked to hang out at Tess's on Saturday nights, but there was a mean edge about these two. No, these were more the type that belonged in the back end of her Daddy's patrol car. 

Peter must have felt the same way because she felt the smooth, cool canister she had tucked into his backpack pressed into her hand. Meredith didn't dare take her eyes off the newcomers, but she could imagine that her little Star Lord was glaring a storm up at them. She was going to protect him the best she could, but Peter wasn't no more a wilting flower than she was. She'd die before she'd let them hurt him, though.

The human-like one said something in a gruff, gravely voice that matched his look a little too well, but Meredith couldn't understand. When she didn't respond right away, he repeated the strange words more slowly and loudly like he was talking to a dense, deaf child. As if that ever works. 

The purple one laughed and then replied in what sounded like a series of grunts and snarls, which were completely different from the strange words that the human-like one spoke. They seemed to understand one another, though.

Meredith wasn't surprised that she didn't understand them. When she had known J'son, he had spoken English but had told her that he had learned it before coming to Earth. He'd never told what language that other aliens spoke, but he never made it sound like they had a problem communicating with one another. These two certainly didn't, but she could help but wonder how so many different creature were able to speak to each other so easily. Humans had enough problems with it. How'd they manage?

The big purple one finally had enough of the conversation and her not understanding because he began to approach her and Peter while grunting in his odd language. Meredith didn't need to understand him to know that whatever it was he was about to do wasn't good.

Grabbing Peter, she roughly pushed him as she stepped back. She tore off the red tab so that she could use it and pointed the pepper spray right at the fast approaching alien. He stopped a few feet from here when she did so and twisted his face up in confusion as he looked at the canister in her hands. 

“Stay back,” she ordered firmly just like her father had taught her. “I'm warning you. I'll use it if you don't stay away.”

He looked at her, then back at his companion, and then back to her before he burst into uproarious laughter. His grim friend joined him immediately, nearly doubling over as he pointed a finger at her. Meredith really didn't see what was so funny about the whole thing but didn't let her guard down. 

Purple guy muttered something as his chuckles died down that Meredith knew were condescending just by his tone. Then, that nasty smirk returned to his face as he said something that clearly meant to be more sinister. 

“I'm warning you,” she repeated.

He clearly didn't take what she said too seriously because he began to move towards her again. This time, however, Meredith noticed he was pushing back the edge of his jack and was reaching for a strange object that was holstered at his side. His finger was barely brushing the weapon when he was just a step outside of her reach, and Meredith decided that she had had enough.

There was a sharp hiss as she sprayed the OC directly into the alien's face. For half-a-heartbeat, he was stunned more than anything. Then the concentrated pepper kicked in, and he let blood curdling yell of grunts that Meredith knew translated into nothing nice. Instinctively, he began to grab at his eyes as if he could claw out pepper spray, which Meredith decided to take full advantage of. 

Using a move her father taught her when she started to date, she kicked him as hard as she could between the legs as she thanked god for the rain that made her wear her boots that day. Much like the pepper spray, she lucked out in that he was similar in anatomy to her species just like J'son was. The cursing grunts turned staccato as he fell to her feet and roughly kissed the ground before her.

The whole time the human-like alien had been so stunned that he hadn't reacted yet, but Meredith knew that it would just be a matter of moments before that wasn't so any longer. Throwing the now empty pepper spray to the side, she quickly pushed the purple guy's coat out of the way as he curled up in a fetal position, and grabbed the weapon he had been reaching for. That snapped the human alien out of whatever stupor he had fallen into, but by the time he was reaching for his own weapon, Meredith already had the big purple wimp's gun – she assumed – pointed at him.

“Don't,” she warned and prayed to god she was holding the gun the right way. It would be just her luck to have it pointed it backwards, but judging by the slow way he reached for the sky, she must have managed.

He said something, but she didn't care what it was. Instead, she made sure that Peter was still safely behind her and then began to look around for some kind of control that would open the door behind her. She couldn't imagine J'son being tied up with people like this, and allowing someone to take Peter was the last thing she would do.

“Send us back,” she demanded. “Right now!”

He said something else and pressed his raised hands forward in a way that meant for her to calm down. Surprising how some things were universal.

“You better send us back,” she snapped. “I ain't going to tell you again.”

Whatever answer he had to that died as the door he and the purple guy had come through earlier slid open for a second time. Meredith's heart sank as four more men came through. Half looked human: the others didn't, but they all wore the same red uniforms as the other two. 

Meredith shifted nervously on her feet as she moved to gun to point vaguely at them and responded by raising there own. All except for the blue one that stood out ahead of the others. Meredith had never seen anything like him before. He had human enough facial features and build, but his sharp red eyes were things of nightmares back home. He had something that she could only compare to a metallic mohawk in the center of his head that looked both silly and intimidating at the same time. Holding his hands on his hips, he sneered at the whole seen before him and pointedly directed a glare in her direction. 

Meredith decided that he was the one to keep gun pointed at, but he just ignored her threats like she was a child pointing a water pistol. Instead, he said something to human-like alien in a weird clicking language. Even if she couldn't understand it, his annoyance was still coming through loud and clear. The human-like guy hastily replied, but the blue guy had already turned his attention back her. 

Meredith got the distinct impression he was weighing his options as he leveled a look at her. She just did her best to keep the gun steady: the strain of holding something that was heavier than your average handgun was staring to cause her arms to shake. If she made it out of this, she was going to start working out again. Jane Fonda tapes weren't really made for these kinds of situations.

She pointedly ignored the other reason why her arms were beginning to tremble. Maybe if she did, then their captures pickup on her fear either.

After the longest few seconds she had ever experienced outside of childbirth, Blue finally reached some sort of decision. Slowly, like he was coming up on some sort of wounded animal, he began to walk towards her. He spoke in his strange clicking language again, but there was something about the way he said things that put her teeth on edge. Even if it was delivered in such a strange language, Meredith could still clearly make out the flat, no nonsense tone that people in authority were used to using to get others to listen to them. With a cop for a father, she had heard it enough growing up. A different language didn't change it none.

It also didn't mean that was going to listen, either.

“Stay back,” Meredith warned as she pointed the gun right at his chest just like her daddy had taught her to do with a handgun. 

There were several clicks from around the room as the aliens armed their weapons, but Blue just waved them off. He said something to them, which caused a few of them to smile and chuckle. It wasn't a nice sound by any means.

Even though she didn't want to show them how intimidated she was, Meredith still began to back away as Blue came closer. She nudged Peter back as she went, which caused a slightly awkward shuffling on their part. It wasn't long until she was practically pressed back against the far door, with Peter trapped between her and it. 

Easily stepping over the wither purple guy, Blue continued to speak to her as he approached. When he was far too close for her comfort, she tightened her grip on the gun and said, “I don't want to hurt you.”

“Leave us alone!” Peter added.

Blue snorted as if he actually understood them and then walked right up to Meredith. He didn't stop moving until the barrel of the gun she was holding was pressed tightly against his chest. This close up, Meredith could easily make out his every feature, from the crooked teeth to the white scaring lings that marked up the side of his head. She could even smell something that she would swear was alcohol on his breath as he leaned in closer to her and said something in his strange language. 

Then, quick as a rattler, his hand struck out and seized her wrist. She reacted by pressing the trigger.

For the first moment, Meredith couldn't believe she had done it. Her father had trained her to use a gun and had done his best to drill into her head to never pick one up unless she were willing to use it. She was, if it meant protecting Peter. There was still something surreal about the idea of actually shooting someone, though. Of pulling the trigger and knowing that what she'd just done meant that something else most likely going to die, even if that something was a blue alien who seemed hell bent on harming her. She still pulled it.

It was then that her brain caught up to reality and realized that nothing had happened.

Things happened in incredibly slow and fast motion all at once then. The surprise must have shown on her face because Blue smirked wickedly at her and said something else to her that had too much condescension in it to be lost in translation. She then saw his free hand coming at her out of the corner of one eye about the same time as she saw Peter going for him out of the other. Time and sounds all mixed together in that moment, though, as whatever Blue was holding pressed against her neck. She wasn't exactly sure what happened then, but Meredith felt a burst of pain as her entire body ceased up. 

Once, when she was a little girl, she had been shocked by a faulty lamp at her Memaw's house. It hadn't register with her what had happened at the time; she had only known that one minute she was standing fine on her own, and the next her knees were giving out from under her. She hadn't felt the pain right away, but when she did, it had been intense. 

That's what this felt like now, only the pain had come with the shock. After what felt like years, her muscles relaxed and she felt herself falling. Meredith fully expected to fell the painful slap of hitting hard metal as she fought precariously to stay conscious, but she was surprised when instead an arm slipped around her to hold her up. Her face pressed against cool leather that smelled and felt so much like the one she had bought J'son not long before he left that it nearly took her breath away. 

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she could Peter and the panic and anger in his voice, but she couldn't bring herself to react no matter how she tried. Everything about her felt too heavy and painful, and all her body was going to let her do was fall into the darkness that was closing around her fast.

As the muffled screams drifted away, Meredith was vaguely aware of her legs being pulled out from under her as she was lifted up. Her head the lulled backwards as the gun slipped fully from her hand.

She didn't remember anything else.

\-------------------------- 

Coming too wasn't like how they always said it was in books or movies. Meredith's eyes didn't suddenly snap open as she regained consciousness, but neither did she have much thought as she woke. It was more of a gradual thing, where piece by piece the darkness slowly chipped away and the light came back. The light, however, brought a stinging bit at her neck and a headache that rivaled the one she had awoken with the morning after she first learned not to start off a night of drinking with anything clear – especially on an empty stomach. 

Meredith heard herself groan as she reached up and touched the spot on her forehead where the pain seemed to be most intense. She hissed and winced when her fingers brushed the sensitive skin near her hairline. Okay, she shouldn't do that again. Instead, she let her hand fall against her the bridge of her nose before she wiped it hard across her eye.

It was then that Meredith actually opened them. For a second time in she didn't know how many hours, she found herself returning to consciousness, only this time she found herself staring up at a smooth, low-hanging ceiling. It had a patchwork kind of quality about it, like over the years parts of it had been broken opened and welded back together with sheets of metal that had been found lying about. There were small bits of rust around some of the patch jobs, as well as around the the tiny whole for the incandescent lighting. It was weird and alien-esque and CRAP!

“Peter!” she gasped as she sat up and instantly regretted it. Her head and the headache felt like it sloshed forward while her body was falling backwards, and the bed under her twisted hard to right. Falling onto her side, Meredith gripped tightly onto mattress as she waited for the spinning to stop.

“Easy there now, girl.” 

Meredith cracked her eyes open and glared down towards the end of the bunk. Blue was sitting there with his dirty boots propped up on the thin sheet she was lying on top of. 

“Don't get yourself all riled up,” Blue said in English. He had an accent similar to hers, but his was heavier and closer to the kind you would hear further south than Missouri. There was something comforting about it and off-putting all the same. It was a bit like hearing Glen Campbell's voice come out of David Bowie's mouth: familiar but wrong at the same time.

Blue must have noticed her confusion because said, “Universal translator. Miracle worker, ain't it?”

He leaned back a bit in his metal chair and put off an air of relaxation, but his easy posture belied a tension in his body, though. She'd seen it a dozen time back when she worked at _Tess's_ in people who were either looking for a fight or always expecting one. She also didn't miss the casual way he let his coat hang open at his side to show off an arrow that rested in a holster at his side. Common sense told her that she should be careful with how she approached him.

Motherly instinct said 'screw that.'

“Where is my son?” she demanded through clinched teeth.

“Boy's fine,” he replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “No need to worry about him.”

“Where is he?” Meredith hissed again. “I swear to god and all things holy, if you hurt him--”

Blue's laugh cut her off, but Meredith refused to back down and continued to glare – which she knew probably wasn't that intimidating considering that she was still clutching on to the thin mattress.

“You'll what? Fall over on me and maybe barf on my nice shoes?” he mocked.

Meredith sneered at him. Damn him if he wasn't right. She couldn't fight a kitten at the moment, but that didn't mean he had to know that. Carefully, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. A wave of vertigo hit her as she did, which forced Meredith to close her eyes to try and get her barrings, but she only allowed herself to do so for a few seconds before opening them again. The room still spun a little, but she wasn't let that stop her from facing Blue in at least a descent position. 

For his own part, Blue's grin hadn't slipped once, but something about shifted from being solely mocking to something she couldn't quite place as he watched her wobble a bit but otherwise stay upright. He didn't offer to steady her, but he didn't strike her as the type that would. Assholes tended to be that way.

“Told ya, your boy's fine,” he said after a few minutes. “Got him with one of my men now. Reckon the kid's givin' him all sorts of new reasons for regrettin' joinin' us.”

Something in his mouth momentarily distracted him. Blue sucked in a bit on his teeth as he regarded his nails before using them to get whatever it was out of his teeth. Meredith didn't bother hiding her disgusted sneer, but Blue didn't seem care anyway.

“Should be proud of the boy,” he said after he finally dislodged whatever it was he was after. “Put up one hell of a fight against my boys. Horuz got a whole new set of itty-bitty bite marks to show off.”

Blue seemed find the whole idea hilarious and laughed at this Horuz injuries. Meredith pressed her lips tightly. Even though the idea of Peter fighting grown men made her heart beat faster than what was probably healthy, she was proud of him. Terrified as hell, but proud nonetheless. Her daddy had always told her that the Quills came from a long, proud line of fighters; the 'never give up' type that didn't know the meaning of the word quit. Peter had inherited that, and part of her was glad for it.

The other part just hoped that it didn't get him killed.

“Course, kid got it honest, didn't he?” Blue asked as if he were reading her thoughts. “Seein' how you single handedly put an end to the illustrious Teaserface line.”

Teaserface? Really? She got kidnapped by a guy named Teaserface? 

What? Was Asshead taken?

Pushing the thought away, she asked again, “Where is he?”

Blue brow drew together as he said, “Back at his bunk icin' down his bits, as far as a I know.”

“My son,” Meredith snapped. “I want to see him.”

“In good time,” Blue replied. “But I reckon you and I need to be havin' a bit of conversation first.”

Sliding his boots off the cot, he let them hit loudly against the metal floor before standing up over her. Loom was probably a better word for it. Blue wasn't overly tall by human standards. Meredith had been able to look him dead in the eyes when he stood on the other side of her gun. However, his stance gave him an air of being larger and far more dangerous that it was clear his height wasn't something that would hinder him in any way. 

“Now, seein' as you and me can understand one another now, I'm goin' to go through this one more time,” Blue said. “Mind, don't go expectin' such generosities in the future 'cause you ain't gonna get 'em.

“Name's Yondu Udonta, and this here is my ship and those crazy sons of bitches out there are my crew.” His eyes narrowed slightly as a smirk slipped onto his lips. “And you and that boy are my cargo.”

Meredith's eyes widened at the deceleration. 

“Now you wait just a damn second here!”

A sharp whistle and a streak of red cut off her protest as something came flying at her face. With a small cry of surprise, Meredith flinched back, which caused her to loose what little precious balance she had and sent her back onto her elbows. A red arrow hovered lazily a few inches from her face like a snake waiting to strike. Meredith tried to back away, but the arrow slid along with her at an easy pace. When she had no where else to go (because this was definitely a bunk and a small at that), it held steady at the exact same distance as it had before she began to move.

As she was doing this, Yondu said, “Now I let you get away with that shit before 'cause you kickin' Teaserface in the balls was a bit entertainin'. Not anymore. I might be gettin' paid a pretty little sum to deliver a couple Terrans, but it ain't gotta be you, you hear?”

He tilted his head to the side a little as he seem to consider something. His nose scrunched a little to one side, and Meredith could just make out his tongue pressing out from between his crooked teeth.

“How far do you reckon that boy's goin' get without his mamma?” Yondu asked finally. “I'm havin' time enough now keepin' my boys away from him. See, they ain't never had Terran before and reckon he'd make a tasty little morsel. Maybe I should just let 'em have him.”

Pushing herself upwards, she hissed, “Stay away from son!” 

The arrow slid to her neck in flash, and Meredith could feel the sharp point press lightly into her throat. Gasping, she froze, not even daring to take a breath. 

“Well, now, that all depends on you, darlin',” Yondu said. “You play nice 'til I drop you and your boy off, and he'll be safe as a little lamb. Don't, well, Ego won't be the first client I disappointed. I'm sure he'll get over easy enough.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Meredith closed her eyes and pressed her lips. She didn't know much about space beyond what J'son had told her, but surely someone who was 'paying a pretty little sum' for 'Terrans' (whatever that was) was not someone she wanted to meet or near her son. Cannibalistic aliens weren't either, but they were currently the devil they had to deal with. Since they were currently at their mercies, she didn't see what choice she had. Keep Peter safe was her top priority, with escape being second and finding a way back to Earth a close third. Until then, she'd do what she always did when life didn't turn out how she planned. She work with what she was dealt and go from there.

She nodded lightly, which caused a nasty smile to appear on Yondu's lips. He whistled loudly through his teeth, like the way her grandfather use to do on his farm when he was calling his dog back from chasing the chickens. The arrow followed orders just loyally as that old hound and zipped away from her neck and back into his hand with practiced ease.

“Took you for a smart one, girl,” he said as he slid the weapon back into its holster. 

“Meredith,” she replied.

His red eyes narrowed as he asked, “What'd you say?”

Swallowing hard, Meredith sat back up and slid her legs over the bunk's side. The cold floor seeped uncomfortably into the warm skin of her bare feet, but she refused to show any discomfort beyond a light adjustment of her leg. She knew better than to stand up – the vertigo from earlier was mostly gone, but she'd rather not chance it coming back in full force – but held her chin up high.

“I said my name is Meredith,” she said calmly. “Not 'girl'. I've not been one of those for a long, long time.”

“Woman, I don't give an orloni ass what you call yourself,” he replied. 

“I don't _call myself_ that,” she said. “That's my name, and if you expect me to answer you at any point, that will be the one you use.”

In some distant part of her brain, Meredith was well aware of voice that was telling her that she should keep her mouth shut, but she ignored it. This man had taken her from her home and family, and took away any choice she had by threatening her son. She'd be damned if he took her name too.

The silence stretched for a long minute before Yondu gave a sharp, amused-but-not snort.

“You really got a pair on you, don't you?” he asked with small shake of his head. 

Meredith couldn't tell if he was impressed or incredulous. Honestly, she really didn't care as long as she got her way. She was a person, damn it, and deserved a least a little bit of dignity that went with it.

“Alright, _Merry-dith_ ,” he said, purposely drawing out her name. “Don't ever say I didn't obliged a lady's request, as long as she does mine.”

“Already said I would,” she replied. “ _My_ word is good.”

His smile held no humor to it; she'd say it was more a baring of teeth than anything, but he let it go at that. He turned away from her with a sweep of his coat and headed towards the closed door that appeared to be the only way into or out of the small room. 

“I'll send your boy back to you. Reckon he's probably caused enough trouble for the crew for the day,” he said before typing something into panel next to the door that caused it to slide opened. 

Standing in the doorway in a way that was clearly meant to block her from making an escape attempt, he turned back to face.

“This here is where you and your boy will be stayin',” he said as he nudged his head to indicate the room. 

Meredith allowed herself to actually look at that point. There was much to it: a pair of bunks built into the wall across from her and she assumed one directly over her. Two lockers were next to the bunks – again she assumed the same next to her own – and a sink and small table with two chairs. What did catch her eyes, though, was that the upper bunk across from hers had a persons _things_ in it. 

Seeing that she had spotted the evidence of an occupant, Yondu said, “Yeah, space is limited on a ship this size, so your goin' have to share. Don't worry your pretty head, though. He won't give you a lick of trouble. Not after the last time.”

He didn't laugh at her exactly that time, but he clearly found her reaction to that amusing enough. Turning his back to her again in that dramatic supervillain way as of before, he stepped through the door and said, “You have a good night, Merry-dith.”

The door slid close almost silently. Meredith sat there for a moment before leaning forward and placing her head in her hands. She wasn't an overly religious person, but she was enough of one to believe that asking for a bit help right then might could do some good. She prayed Peter and that he'd be safe. She prayed for her family because surely they'd be missing them by now. She prayed that she and Peter would make it through. She prayed that J'son would somehow find them and save them from this whole mess. 

She prayed and hoped.

Then she decided to do what she need to do to make sure they survived.

\--------------------------


	2. Track Two: I Can't Get It Out of My Head - Electric Light Orchestra

It turns out that the roommate that Meredith was offhandedly warned of was a skinny twelve-year-old. At least that was how old he looked to her. He insisted that he was older, of course, claiming that he was actually fifteen (as if those few years magically made his presents on what she could only call a pirate ship made all the difference). If he was, he was tiniest fifteen-year-old boy she'd ever seen. He was barely a head taller than Peter, and that was including the faux-hawk he had gelled his hair into. 

He could be older than she thought since he was Xanderian (whatever that was), but her instincts were telling her that he was lying. Badly at that.

“Alright, young man,” Meredith had said after her questions about how old he was and where his parents were, were meet with either lies or evasions. “Can you at least be truthful when you tell me your name?”

“My name's Kraglin, Ma'am,” he said. “And I ain't lyin'.”

“Mm hmm,” Meredith replied. 

Keeping her arms crossed, she eyed him up and down, which was a pretty short distance. He shifted a little uncomfortably under her gaze as she used what Peter liked to call her 'Mom face' whenever she caught him in an obvious lie. It was pretty effective in making her son squirm and seemed to have similar effect on this one. 

After a few minutes of him finding everything else in the room more interesting to look than her, Meredith asked again, “You sure you're fifteen?”

“Um,” he said. He rubbed his arm like he was cold, even though he was wearing one of those stupid red jackets like the rest of this color-coded nightmare people she found herself dumped in the middle of. Finally, Kraglin offered up, “Um, I said I was goin' be fifteen. Not quite there yet.”

Yeah, that was pretty much what Meredith thought, but she'd let it go at that because she doubted she get anything better. 

Kraglin offered her a sort of smile that was something of a cross between 'sorry' and 'don't be mad' as he ducked his head and raised his shoulders. 

Meredith had to fight to keep a curse from escaping from her lips. That damn blue bastard. He knew – had to know – that a kid that skinny and who looked like he needed a good hug and motherly smothering would kick in every mother's instinct she had. 

Oh, she couldn't say she really trusted him or anything. He might be small and look helpless, but that didn't really mean much with this group of idiots. He was just a kid, though, and of everyone on the ship, a child would be the most likely candidate for her to start to put her guard down. 

Especially one that looked so much like he could be one of the kids over at the Children's Sunshine Shelter. 

The fact that he was a kid also helped with Peter, too. Even though he had a hard time connecting with children his own age, Peter was the social kind. He wanted to be around people and make friends, but there was something about him that put people off. 

Part of that was that there was too much of J'son in him. Peter had this way about him that sometimes made you feel like he was trying to charm you for something, and you were generally right. Meredith had always gotten that feeling around J'son but hadn't minded it much. He was a real spaceman and was interested in her. What did she care if he liked to lay it on a little too thick? Wasn't like she was oblivious to it, and it didn't hurt none. She'd always found it kind of cute with J'son. It was downright adorable now when Peter did it.

The other part was solely Meredith's fault. Small town Southerners liked to whisper among themselves about all sort of gossip, and the Sheriff's unmarried, rebellious daughter finding herself in the family-way with no husband was the center of lots of conversations for a long time. 

Her step-mamma Nancy Shay had been horrified when she told her and Daddy about Peter, and that horror had only grown when the first few rumors started to make their rounds. She did everything could to convince Meredith that it would be a good idea for her to leave town for awhile and let things settle, but Meredith was never the running type. She didn't care if people talked. This was her baby, and she was keeping it. Nancy Shay had tried to get Meredith's father to “talk some sense into her fool head,” but he pointed out that Meredith wasn't 16 this time and could do what she wanted. If she wanted the baby, she could keep it, and that was that. She loved her daddy for that, which made his own disappointment in her about the whole thing hurt all the worse. She sometimes still wondered what he would have done if he ever did get his hands on her “no account, low-down hippie boyfriend.”

Meredith had never been sorry about her decision. Peter was the best thing that ever happened to her. Small town people have long memories though and could pass their prejudices down to their own children easy as you please. Peter paid for that, which broke her heart in ways that she didn't know was possible.

Kraglin didn't know about any of that; and after living with him for a few days, Meredith doubted he'd care if he did. To him, Peter was just another kid. To Peter, he was a kid fairly close to his age that was willing to play with him and share his music with and listen to his stories about home. Someone to keep him entertained and calm, which is exactly why Meredith figured Yondu had them sharing a bunk.

Goddamn blue bastard was smart, she'd give him that.

Yondu had assigned him to watch both her and Peter, and she quickly found out that Kraglin took 'Cap'n's orders' very seriously. It didn't matter all that much since she – and by extension Peter – didn't leave their room except to go to the chow hall or to the bathroom (and only when she was sure that none of the rest of the crew was in there). Kraglin was a big help in keeping them away from everyone else since he knew the schedules and when was the most likely time when the others would be busy. 

They weren't confined to their bunk, though. Kraglin had told her enough that she and Peter could go where they pleased so long as he was with them. She had just chosen to stay away from the others, but she couldn't hide them away forever. Peter was already getting a bit stir crazy being locked up all the time, and it had only been a few days. She knew her son. It was only going to be a matter of time before he'd 'wander off' while she wasn't looking, and then where would she be? She certainly would be asking the men who threatened to eat her son to look for him that was for sure. 

Sighing, Meredith tucked her arm under her head a bit more. The lights were low but not turned off because it wasn't a good idea to do so in a place that had no windows. She watched the darkness that filled up 'her bunk' across from her but didn't feel the pull of sleep whatsoever. After a long day of doing nothing, she wasn't all that surprised. She hated to admit it, but Peter wasn't the only one who was starting to feel those four walls starting to close in more and more.

Peter stirred behind her, shifting in his sleep a bit as he tried to find a more comfortable position. Meredith sat up a bit to make sure that he hadn't woken up, but he simply snuggled a bit deeper into the thin blanket before settling again. 

As much of a cuddler as her son was, she knew he wasn't overly fond of her insisting on them sharing a bunk. Peter might be small for his age, and she wasn't a large woman by any means, but the bed wasn't meant to shared for any significant period of time. Meredith didn't care, though. If someone decided to come to them in the middle of the night, they'd have to go through her first to get to him.

“Ain't no one going to mess with him, Ms. Meredith,” Kraglin had whispered to her a few nights before. 

He had hung over the side of his bunk, his head turned upside down and his hair falling down in a way that showed how long it actually was. Meredith had made a mental note to try and find a decent pair of scissors to give the poor kid a good trim. He need to get those dead ends off. 

His eyes almost had a gold glint to them as he leaned forward a little and reassuringly said, “Cap'n orders.”

The boy said it like the Captain's order was gospel, and no one would dare challenge it. It'd take bit more to convince Meredith that the word of man – alien – whatever – who dealt in people was good, though. 

Meredith laid her head back down on the small section of pillow that was hers and stared back off into the darkness.

Peter's Walkman laid between them. He'd been listening to it before he finally had drifted off, and Meredith had allowed the cassette to continue playing to just fill up the silence. The last melody of one of ELO's older works drifted away into nothing. After a few moments, the distinct click of Peter's Walkman turning off sounded loudly before the rumbling silence of the ship filled the room again.

Closing her eyes, she tried to let her mind wander and relax like her father had told her to do when she was a little girl. She'd never been a very good sleeper. She had distant memories of lying awake at night and watching the strings she tied to the old metal fan on her dresser dance in her dim moon-lit room. They'd tried all the normal remedies that you'd give a child – warm milk, a hard day of play, etc. - but short of a shot of some over-the-counter cold medicine, they never seemed to work. A solid three hours of sleep was a good night for her when she been Peter's age. She was very grateful that he hadn't inherited that.

Her father use to say she didn't want to sleep was because she was too afraid that she was going to miss something if she did, but that wasn't true. The truth was that Meredith thought too much. In the dark, she had nothing to distract her from whatever handful of things had caught her attention that day, and she would lie in bed and think about it until she was too tired and fell into uneasy unconsciousness. As she got older, it got a bit better. However, she never did get good at sleeping – which turned out to be a blessing when Peter was an infant and liked to remind her that he was around at three in the morning – but Meredith learned how to make herself go sleep fairly well.

That had all gone out the window in the past three days since they'd been on board the _Eclector_ – an awful name for an awful ship with an awful captain. She really didn't want to think about him, though, so Meredith gave up on the whole idea of sleep for the time being. 

Carefully sitting so as to not disturb Peter, she sat on the edge of the bunk and tapped her fingers against the metal frame. Everything in the room started to feel too small and too tight and really the only thing Meredith really wanted at that moment was some air. But that would mean leaving Peter alone, and she wasn't sure that she trust Kraglin's word that he would be left a lone. 

She couldn't stay in that room anymore either.

Turning around a little, Meredith leaned over and gently laid a hand on Peter's shoulder.

“Peter,” she whispered.

He groaned a little before he rolled onto his back and blinked up at her. Jamming his palm against his face, he wiped the sleep from his eyes and asked, “Mom?”

Meredith the tip of her finger to her lips and quietly said, “Keep it down, baby. We don't want to wake Kraglin.”

She wasn't a hundred percent sure that he was asleep, but since he hadn't popped his head over the bedside yet, she figured that there was a good chance that he still was. The kid was too curious and too loyal to Yondu to not check on the whispering “Terrans,” especially if they were doing it in the middle of night. Peter turned his eyes towards the roof of the bunk as if he could see the sleeping boy on the other side and then nodded.

“You want to go for a walk?” she whispered.

Peter's shoulders sagged in relief as he said a little too loudly, “Yes.”

He slid past her to pull on his shoes before she herself stood. Meredith sneaked a peek into Kraglin's bunk as she did so. The only way she could describe the child was being sacked-out: flat on his back with his mouth hanging open slightly and his skinny limbs spread out to take up as much room as possible. At some point, he had kicked off his blanket so on his left ankle was covered. She straightened it out a bit before covering him up again. She froze for a heartbeat when he moved a little from the adjustment, but he simply turned his head a little in the opposite direction and settled down again.

Meredith felt a little guilty leaving him since it was technically his job to watch them, but she figured that she and Peter wouldn't be gone that long. Just a short walk and then they'd be right back. Yondu certainly couldn't fault him for sleeping through a midnight stroll. 

Peter was more than half ready by the time Meredith made it to her own locker. By her own insistence, they both slept mainly dressed in case they had to make a quick get away. Like the bunk-sharing, it wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but she felt better about doing it than leaving them more vulnerable that sleeping in just a tunic she'd been given or the shirt she'd been wearing when they were abducted would have done. She could handle the restrictiveness of jeans for a little piece of mind.

She didn't ask Kraglin too many questions about where he got their new clothes. Most of them were old and used, which wasn't that surprising. The few women's under garments she found were, but she hadn't become quiet desperate enough to use them. She could wash a lot a bit in their little sink, and Meredith was happy to keep that up for the time being. 

If her new clothes were anything like the shirt she wore to sleep in, which was overly large and smelled of alcohol no how many time she washed it, she was fairly sure that wearing them wouldn't be a good idea. 

Kraglin had promised her that when she felt up to it that he'd take her to Tailor for some clothes of her own. If he was the same one who made everyone's on the ship, she wasn't so sure she wanted to go. Red leather really wasn't her style, and he apparently didn't make anything else.

Slipping on her boots, she turned to Peter, who already had his sneakers laced and was retrieving his Walkman. Meredith held out her hand to him to silently ask him if he was ready. Peter, of course, raced ahead and opened the door for them. She gave Kraglin one last glance before following him out into the hall.

The lights were a bit brighter out there but not by much. Even in the middle of the 'day', the hallways always had a perpetual twilight about them, and the middle of the night didn't seem to be any different. Quite frankly, Meredith thought that was asking for trouble. The darker it was the harder it was to see, the more accident were likely to occur. Standard safety measures clearly wasn't a high priority on the space pirates' list. Well, if they wanted to trip and potentially kill themselves with their own weapons because of poor lighting, she was hardly going to stop them. 

She and Peter would need to watch their step. This ship wasn't a bit clean, and she highly doubted that they had a ready supplies of tetanus shot lying around. 

Meredith wrapped her hands around Peter's shoulders and pulled him close when distant rowdy laughter echoed down the hall. It was far away, probably from the chow hall judging by the direction. It was impossible for her to tell exactly how many men were there. More than she was comfortable with, she was sure. Far more than she was willing to be anywhere near her son.

“Come on, baby,” she said as she nudged him in the opposite direction.

They'd never been this way, but Meredith didn't let herself fret too much over it. Ever since she was a little girl, her daddy would say what a good sense of direction she had. Car trips and hiking trails or anything of the like, she was always the one put in charge of the map. She never needed to find her way back, so long as she paid attention to the way they went in. Her dad would sometimes swear she was part homing pigeon. She hoped he was right because she was going to need that skill if she and Peter were ever going to make it back to Earth.

The end of each hall turned into another, and each one pretty much was the same as the last: doorways lining each side of the hall, a few badly dented or even opened vents, and other entrances to other hallways scattered along the way. They never took those, except for the last one so they could continue their walk, but Meredith would sometimes peer down one to see if it were any different than the one they were on. Most were the same, but some weren't. One particular one that stood out. She had noticed a few short hallways before, but they always ended in a closed door. Peter had shown some curiosity about them, but she hadn't let him go investigate. Doors where closed for a reason and for now she was happy to leave it that way. 

However, they eventually came to one someone had left opened.

“Mom, look!” 

“Peter!” 

Meredith fumbled to try and catch her son, but he was already halfway to the door. She scrambled after him as he charged through the opening and out onto what looked like a catwalk. He didn't go far before stopping in the middle of the walk to gawk at what was around him.

“Whoa.”

“Peter,” she said as she ran to him, but her steps slowed too when she saw where they were.

The whole area was one giant opened room with dark walls that stretched up higher than what seemed possible for a ship. Bridges crisscrossed across the cavern overhead, with a couple of platforms jutting out here and there like balconies on an apartment building. It reminded Meredith a bit of pictures she'd seen of some offshore rigs in the Gulf: all the pipes and wiring and whatnot exposed and dark and dangerous. She got the feeling that if you grabbed the wrong thing that she'd get a shock that would make the thing Yondu had used on her feel like a love tap. It was best they stay away from all that. However, the walkways themselves did seem much safer, what with the large gaps that were opened under the handrailing. 

Which, of course, her son ran right over to so he could look over.

“Mom, look!”

“Careful,” she snapped as she tried to make sure that he didn't fall through the gap. 

Not paying the least bit of attention, he smiled up at her and said, “It looks like Cloud City where Luke and Vader were fighting.”

Meredith frowned. She remembered that scene didn't end too well for the hero, but she certainly wasn't going to point that out. Instead, she took a peek over the railing and regretted it almost immediately. They weren't as high as she feared they were, but it was high enough for her. More than enough for her to get her son off that bridge and to a safer area. 

The fact that that would be the dirty, ill-lit hallway was not lost to her. 

Placing her hands on his shoulders, Meredith gently tugged Peter away from the railing and towards the opened door they had entered through.

“Come on, Peter.”

He pouted a little but followed nonetheless. 

Once they were safely back in the hall, Meredith said, “Okay, I think that's enough exploring for one day.”

“But, Mom,” Peter whined, “we've barely seen anything.”

He was right. Judging by the numerous hallways and that room, this ship was much bigger than she had originally thought, and they had barely seen a fraction of it. There was no telling what sort of things this place had hidden away in it, and she suddenly wasn't so eager to be leaving them exposed like they were. 

There was also that nagging feeling that told her they had barely meet any of the crew as well. There had to be a lot of them to run something this size, right? With it just being her and Peter out and about, she didn't like those odds none.

She was suddenly regretting not bringing Kraglin along with them. At least he could remind the crew about his precious Captain's “orders.” 

“It's late, honey,” Meredith decided to say instead. “We should be getting back.”

“Kraglin's not going to care none,” Peter said as he crossed his arms as she tried to steer him back the way they came. “He's been trying to get us to go outside for days.”

“I know,” she replied, “but it's late, and you, my little Star-Lord, should be back in bed.”

Groaning, he said, “But I'm not tired.”

A small, squeaky shrill noise stopped them in their tracks. It was a small sound but harsh and grating, like someone had taken a nail and dragged it across the side of a car. It reminded her of something in a vague sort of way, but it was wrong all at the same time. Squinting into the shadows, Meredith tried to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, but all she could tell was that it was somewhere along the floor.

She gasped and shoved Peter against her when a tiny white head came out from one of the broken-opened vents. It gave a small sniff before slowly moving out from its hiding spot and out into the hallway. 

It was, beyond a doubt, the ugliest thing that Meredith had ever had the displeasure of seeing. The pinkish, white....rat-thing walked about on two legs, while keeping its front legs tucked close to its chest like T-Rexes do in pictures. There was a sickliness about it, and she could easily imagine that this was what one of those plague rats from back in the middle ages would have looked like if that disease somehow made them immortal zombie rats.

What she wouldn't give for her daddy's pistol and a couple of rounds of rat-shots right now. 

“What is that?” Peter asked.

Unfortunately, that caused the zombie-rat to notice them. Lifting its head towards them, it made that awful screeching noise as it showed off a sharp row of teeth and moved towards them. Meredith reacted by grabbing Peter up as she scrambled back a bit, but the thing didn't stop coming at them. When it leaped at her, she yelped and give it a sharp kick. It flew backwards and landed with a little plop near the vent it had come out of. After flailing about a bit, it rolled back onto its feet and hissed at them again. This time, however, several more the ugly little things emerged from the vent as well and fell into line with the leader. 

Meredith did the only sensible thing to do when faced with a horde of angry space rats. She made sure she had a good grip on Peter and turned tail to run. Everything about the escape felt slow and heavy. Peter's extra weight made her feel like she was trying to run while carrying a hundred pound sake of flower – even though she knew for a fact that the seven-year-old didn't weighed half that – and it felt like her heart was trying to beat out of her chest. She was aware of Peter yelling at the space rats to leave them alone, but it was a distant sound that she could barely make out of the thumping in her ears. 

It seemed to take forever to get to the end of the hall. Meredith knew with Peter in her arms she could easily overbalance, so she tried to make the turn as carefully as she could. She felt both her and Peter tilt a bit, and for a moment she was terrified she was going to fall. The rats were right on them as she tried to correct her balance, which seemed to be enough instinctive to make her flailing body cooperate. Righting herself, she charged forward and was both relieved and frustrated to find stairs going up and down. She chose up, hoping that the steepness might slow her pack of pursuers, but didn't check to see if it had until she reached the top of the staircase. It had stopped a few, but there were still a couple that were slowly making their way up behind them. 

Meredith glanced down the hallway that stretched far long uninterrupted for far farther than any of the others that she had traveled down thus far. There wouldn't be any way that she could run that far with Peter before those little rat-things caught them. She wasn't about to let them become the next Willard Stiles, so she ran to the closest door. 

She honestly didn't know really how to opened it. The door to her and Peter's room came opened with the code that Kraglin had given them, and she really didn't even know it since it was all in alien letters. She just learned the pattern. She highly doubted that it would here. 

“Mom,” Peter said nervously. 

Deciding to just give it a shot, Meredith pushed the blinking green button and hoped for the best. For the first time in days, God gave her a break and the door slid opened. She'd barely made it inside when the first of the alien-rats made it to the landing and came scrambling at them. Slapping her hand down on the now blinking red button, she managed to get the door shut just as one was leaping at them. There was a hard _thud_ of it hitting the metallic door before nothing at all.

Breathing harder than normal, Meredith put Peter down and leaned back against the cool door. She stayed that way all of two seconds before she leaned forward and covered her face with both her hands. Hot tears prickled at the corner of her eyes and her breath wasn't as steady as she liked, but she fought to keep it from turning into a full blow hyperventilation. 

She _hated_ this ship. Everything about it was horrible: it smelled like dirty socks and unwashed bodies, everything that wasn't constantly used had a thick layer of dust on, the aliens were possibly cannibals and definitely criminals and kidnappers, and the rodents acted like guard dogs. It was just...awful!

She absolutely despised everything about this ship. 

But most of all, she hated that Peter was here; that she couldn't really protect him no matter what she tried to convince herself of otherwise. Hell, she just got chased by a bunch of space-rats for Pete's sake. The only way she could protect him from that was hiding. What kind of mother was she if she couldn't even properly keep a bunch of dirty hell-rodents away. How did she possibly think she could protect him from these pirates if she couldn't even do that!

“Mom?” 

Meredith allowed her one more second of almost loosing it before she forced herself to take in a steadying breath. Right now was not the time for a break down. Peter needed her.

Standing up straight, Meredith dropped her hands from her face and glanced over at Peter. His eyes were a bit wider as he searched her face with a little frown. Meredith forced herself to smile and ran a hand over his head. 

“I'm okay,” she said and was pleased with how steady she keep her voice. “Those ugly rats just scared me a bit.”

“I don't like 'em either,” he admitted. “But we're safe in here. Right?”

Meredith didn't really know the answer to that but nodded all the same. “Sure we are.” She frowned and squinted into the semi-dark room. “Wherever here is.”

Like pretty much everything else on this ship, the things in the room they found themselves in was just odd. There were a couple of stations pointed in the direction of a wall: some had seats, but most were just meant for someone to stand before them. High-tech screens and control centers were placed close to the front like they were trying to get a better view of the wall they were pointed at. One particular chair stood out in its center position and easy access to equipment that Meredith had only ever seen in sci-fi movies.

It was all very Star Trek-ish. 

Well, if Star Trek was about a bunch of drunken redneck beer runners, anyway.

“Cool,” Peter said already bouncing towards one of the stations.

“Peter, don't touch anything,” Meredith called after him, but of course he wasn't going to listen to her and had already climbed into on of the chairs that was set before some odd controllers. Slipping his headphones on, he grabbed hold of the what looked to be steering column and began to make the childish noises of ships firing at one another. Since the controls didn't move when he pulled on them, Meredith decided to leave him be while she got a better look at some of the other things around the room.

As she began to walk around, she had to step over a large lever that was locked safely in place. She frowned down at it and wondered what it was for exactly. A couple of ideas crossed her mind, but nothing that became solid enough that she would give it any credit. Maybe she would ask Kraglin in the morning. He seemed pretty proud of this flying rust bucket and probably knew what everything did. 

A loud creaking groan filled the room and was immediately followed by, “Woops.”

She snapped her attention over to Peter, who was staring wide-eyed straight ahead. His finger was still hovering over a button as the “wall” that the stations were all turned to was slowly slid open. 

Meredith drew in a small breath as the universe opened up before her in a canvas of colors and dim light. Clouds of green and purple laid frozen in a swell like a powerful storm that was coming off the prairie in the late afternoon. Splatters of red and gold were speckled in different places, with a particularly large spot in the center of it all that tried to reign in the other colors. 

There were mists of stars that were almost too small to distinguish, but a few pinpoints stood out sharply in the clouds. The two that stood out the most were not all that far away. One shone so brightly that it was painful to look at if for too long. The other was close to it and had a cooler light to it. Meredith squinted a bit it and realized that she could just make out a slight blue color to it. 

A tiny hand reached up from next to her and touched the glass before them. It was only then that Meredith realized that she and Peter had moved from their spots to get a better look out the window. Peter pressed his face closer, which knocked his headphones off his ears and rest at his neck. Music quietly filled the darkness around them. Jeff Lynne cooed softly:

“ _Sitting until the sun goes down,_  
_In dreams the world keeps going round and round._  
_And I can't get it out of my head,_  
_No, I can't get it out of my head._  
_Now my old world is gone for dead_  
_'Cos I can't get it out of my head.”_

“Is that another planet?” Peter asked.

Meredith glanced at the small ball that was slowly becoming larger and larger. It was larger enough now that she could make out tiny brushes of white and a speck of green here and there.

“Yeah, baby, I think it is,” she replied.

He pressed his face even closer to the glass, which caused a little bit of condensation when he breathed, “Wow.”

She thought that summed it up fairly well.

A sharp whistle cut through the music like an offbeat note. She halfway through a turn when she saw the streak of red snaking around towards them from the side. Peter didn't know what the whistle means since she'd been doing her best to keep him locked up safe, so he was surprised when she grabbed him and none-to-gently pressed him against her side. There was no way she could get him out of the way before the arrow went through them, but at least she could keep him from seeing it coming.

Within the space of a heartbeat, the thing curved away from them and dropped. There was thud intermixed with a disgruntled shriek down close to her feet as the arrow slid straight through a zombie-rat that was coming at them. It's body bounced and slid a bit before not moving at all. 

The arrow arched around the room as if to simply prove that it could before dutifully returning to its Master's hand. Calmly, Yondu placed the arrow back in its holster before placing his hands on his hips. “Well, what do we have here?”

One of the men he brought with him went straight for the station Peter had been playing at before, while the other rat-faced one went straight for them. He grabbed Meredith by upper arm as if he were scared she were about to scamper off. She tried to pull her arm free with no success but didn't offer up too much resistance. All that would do would be to scare Peter or cause him to try and protect her. The situation definitely didn't need the possible escalation that would bring, so she let the ugly alien hold her for the time being.

Straightening her back, Meredith said, “We didn't do anything.”

Yondu raised an eyebrow at her and pointedly directed his attention to the opened window behind her. He then glanced to the pirate that stood at the station Peter had been playing at. “That so, Tulk?”

“Looks like one of them managed to open the hull is all,” Tulk said. “Didn't turn nothin' else on.”

He did something to do the dash, which caused the same mechanical groaning as before. Slowly, the wall began to retract into place. Meredith frowned a little as it did so, but otherwise kept still and quiet. 

“I think they were tryin' to escape, Cap'n,” the rat-face alien said.

Meredith scoffed. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

She nearly broke his grip this time when she tried to pull her arm free, which caused him to latch onto her even tighter. His fingers dug painfully into her skin and caused her wince. It'd be bruised come morning. Meredith didn't doubt that was what he meant to do. He was the type that liked to remind those weaker than him what their place was any chance he got. 

Sick bastard.

Her little Star-Lord was never one to stand for that sort of thing.

“Stop it!” Peter snarled from her side. “You're hurting her!”

Meredith barely caught him by the back of his shirt and pulled him back with a hard yank of his collar. 

“Peter, no!”

Yondu had strolled over to them by then and was standing close enough that Peter couldn't have made a second attempt. He frowned down at him, which of course just made her son glare more up at him.

“Listen to your mamma, boy,” Yondu said. “That ain't a fight you can win yet.”

Those red eyes locked hers then in a hard stare. She didn't know him very well, but the orders were clear enough in that look that she didn't need to. Keep her son in check if she wanted him to make it through this. Don't let him catch them here again. Don't go wandering unless she wanted something worse than this to happen. 

Meredith pressed her lips and nodded.

He broke the gaze with his own nod and stepped back.

“Take 'em back to the bunks.”

There was a bit of shuffling as Tulk hurried from the station to her other side for the escort. The bulky humanoid was surprisingly swift for someone his size.

Meredith couldn't stop the surprised, painful cry that escaped her lips when the rat-face one pulled her closer to him. His sour breath washed over her face as he said, “I know a bunk you can go to, and we'd be sure that you wouldn't be wanderin' anywhere for a week after.”

He made a crude jester with himself as he smiled wickedly at her. 

Meredith had just felt the blood drop out of her face at the suggestion when a blue hand slammed and clamped onto hiss shoulder. The force was hard enough that Rat-face's grip on her loosened a bit as he gave out a pitiful cry. The captain face was flat and calm as he leaned in close to his crew member.

“Any part of you goes touchin' any part of her that she don't want touchin',” Yondu said and nudged his head towards her to emphasis his point, “I'm goin' to personally break it off you and feed it to you.”

Rat-face cried out and his knees about buckled as the Captain's grip tightened like a vice on his shoulder.

“You understand me, Wretch?”

“Yes, Cap'n.”

Yondu gave him a hard shove and then finally let him ago. Wretch stumbled a bit and then righted himself. He tried to play it off as nothing, but it wasn't hard to see the fear that marred his face as he nodded towards the Captain.

When Wretch tried to regain his grip on her arm, Meredith pulled it away and broke his hold. His glare was angry as he bore his teeth a bit at her, but one quick glance at Yondu put a stop to that. He settled on a scowl instead, gave her a little shove to get her moving, but otherwise didn't touch her.

The whole trek back was made mostly in silence. Her two guards walked dutifully beside her and Peter but didn't give them much notice. It was almost as if they just so happened to be heading the same way and just decided to walk along with them. If either one of them were surprised that she didn't need them to direct her back to her room, they didn't show it. That was fine by her. The less she had to interact with these men, the better.

The silence was abruptly ended when they finally reached her and Peter's quarters. Wretch took two giant steps to get in front of her, and then turned to face her. There was an angry snarl on his face he gave her a hard shove back that could have sent her to the floor if she hadn't had caught herself in time. 

Peter was already snarling at him again, but Tulk had grabbed him and held him in place. Meredith opened her mouth to tell him to let go of her son, but Wretch shoved his finger under her nose and pressed it to her lips to silence her. His eyes were hard and angry as he sneered at her.

“Don't forget,” he said. “The Cap'n ain't always around.”

The words hung between them for a moment. Meredith felt her throat dry as that mean snarl turned into something utterly vile as she drew his finger away from her lips and pressed it to his own. The grin was still on his face as he took a couple of steps back and then walked away.

Meredith's heart beat loudly in her ears as she watched him leave. Oh, god. Oh, god. What were they going to do?

Some part of her brain had registered the sounds of Peter struggling in Tulk's grip the entire time that the incident was happening, but it wasn't until he yelled after Wretch, “Yeah, you better run!” that she realized what he was saying. 

Her voice was oddly flat when she said, “That's enough, Peter.”

He stopped cold and blinked up at her. His mouth opened a little, but before his question could be asked, another voice cut him off.

“He ain't wrong.”

Tulk drummed his fingers once on Peter's shoulders. 

“Cap'n's orders is law 'round here. Ain't no one goin' question that,” he said. “But he can't be in more than one place at once, and you ain't doin' yourself no favors by hiding you and your boy away. Teaserface's got lots of friends here, and they think you're scared now. Scared will only get you trouble.”

“We ain't scared,” Peter said.

Tulk tilted his head at Meredith. She crossed her arms and found an interesting spot on floor. 

“Well,” he said, “I suggest you start showin' 'em you ain't.”

Tulk gave her one last pointed look, patted Peter on the shoulders, and then headed in the same direction that Wretch had gone. 

Meredith sighed softly to herself. She knew he was right, but her instinct was to keep Peter away from all the dangerous men. They, however, saw it as a weakness. She was scared, not protective. That wasn't a good thing in a place like this.

“Come on, baby,” she said and gently touched the back of Peter's head. “It's late. Let's get you to bed.”

Instead of whining and begging to stay up just a little while longer, Peter just nodded his head and went inside. He practically bounced back to their bunk and flopped on top of the covers. His shoes then went flying towards his locker and hit them with a loud bang as Peter laid back down as if the whole thing had taken a great effort.

The noise startled Kraglin awake. Leaning a little out of his bunk, he rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand and blinked at her.

“Ms. Meredith?”

“It's okay, Kraglin,” she said. “Go back to sleep.”

He frowned at her and then peeked under his bunk. Peter made a face at him in return.

“You sure?” Kraglin asked skeptically.

Forcing a grin, Meredith grabbed his blanket and pulled up higher over him. Though clearly confused, he laid back down and let her tuck it back up around him. 

“Yes, I'm sure,” she said as she did so. “Now go back to sleep.”

He didn't believe her but didn't argue either. 

Just as he was being settle back down, she said, “And, Kraglin, in the morning, I want you to show me and Peter around after breakfast. Could you do that?”

If she wasn't so wore down, Meredith might have laughed at how wide his eyes became.

“Um, yeah, sure,” he said. 

Nodding a little, Meredith turned her attention back down to Peter. With his shoes off, he had squirmed back under the blanket and pushed himself to the far side of the bunk to make room for her. Meredith just sat down on the edge, however. She took his Walkman and placed it on the small, built-in shelf before tucking the covers tight around him. 

“You okay?” she asked softly as she gently brushed his bangs to the side.

“Yeah,” he replied. “I wasn't scared or nothing.”

Smiling, she said, “I know you weren't. I'm very proud of you.”

Peter crewed on part of his bottom lip. She could practically see the question turning in his mind, but she gave him a chance to think about it. Sometimes it took him a little longer to get the courage up to ask her things. It was a probably that seemed to be exclusively for her because her son certainly didn't have it with anyone else. Meredith knew that it meant that he thought whatever he was thinking might upset her. Sometimes it did – usually when it was about why his father wasn't around like all the other dads – but she always tried to make sure that he didn't see how it might affect her. Considering he still did his little pause thing, she must not be as good at as she thought.

Finally, Peter asked, “Were you scared?”

She chuckled a little and shook her head.

“Not with you there with me,” she said as she continued to stroke his forehead. “My little Star-Lord.”

It wasn't a lie. She wasn't scared when he was with her.

She was damn petrified.

Thankfully, Peter didn't pick that up from beneath her smile. He just returned it and then settled down in a more comfortable spot. 

Instead of joining him, however, Meredith pushed his bangs out of the way, kissed him on the forehead, and sat back. His brow furrowed as he frowned at her.

Laughing softly, she said, “I think your big enough and brave enough to sleep by yourself. Don't you?”

His eyes narrowed a little at her as if he were trying to solve some kind of puzzle, but then shook his head as if the while idea of his mother trying to manipulate him was silly. 

He leaned forward a little and then whispered loudly, “Got to show 'em we're not scared, right?”

“That's right,” she whispered back just as loudly. 

Nodding his head in agreement, Peter readjusted himself so that he was laying more in the middle of the bunk than the far side. Once he was done, Meredith gave him one last kiss before she stood up. 

She meet Kraglin's eyes for just a brief moment when she did so. There was confusion there, but it was silent. Meredith nodded at him before turning to her original bunk. She'd have to tell him what happened. There was no way that he wasn't going to hear it, and she'd rather let him know what was going on herself. In the morning, though. 

She hadn't been lying when she told Peter it was late and wariness was weighing on her. It wasn't exactly same thing as tiredness – not even in the same realm of sleepiness – but it was close enough as far as she was concerned. Meredith didn't hold any delusions about sleeping that night. She knew she wasn't. 

Her new bunk, however, did have a good view of the door. If anyone came through, she'd see them before the boys would. They'd also see her first, too. That should be enough to make her the first target if they decided to come at them. If making herself the easily visible target would keep Peter safe, she was okay with that. 

However, if they thought her “weak” and that she'd just take whatever they gave, well, that'd be their mistake, now wouldn't it?

If there was one thing that people learned about them fast, it was that Quills were good at making people sorry if they tried to hurt them or those they loved.

And she was a Quill, through and through.

**Author's Note:**

> So what do you guys think? Should I continue?


End file.
